John Cleland
'''John Cleland '''is a retired British racing driver. He competed in the BTCC from 1989-1999, winning the Championship in 1989 and 1995 and scored 17 wins, spending his entire career at Vauxhall. Cleland's first season in 1989 was in a Class C Vauxhall Astra GTE. He won his class 11 times out of 13 and took a clean-sweep of fastest laps in class, his best outright result was 9th at Donington. The only times he lost out in his class were Thruxton where he came 3rd in class (19th outright) behind team-mate Louise Aitken-Walker and John Morris' Volkswagen Golf and a DNF at Silverstone. Cleland actually scored less points than Class B Champion James Weaver but took the title by a solitary point as only the best 11 scores counted. From 1990 to 1995, Cleland drove a works Cavalier and his first year with the car saw him compete in Class B for the 2 Litre Super Tourers that would replace Group A from 1991 onwards, he won the class 4 times with a best outright result of 6th at Snetterton. He was Runner-Up in the Class to 1988 Champion Frank Sytner and 5th outright. The arrival of Super Touring in 1991 would signal the start of the most successful period of Cleland's BTCC Career, he scored 3 wins each in 1991 and 1992, finishing Runner-Up to Will Hoy in the former year but he dropped to 3rd overall in the latter after memorably colliding with Steve Soper in the Final Round at Silverstone. It was after this collision that he famously declared "The man's an animal!" to describe Soper. The Cavalier was less competitive in 1993 and 1994 as first BMW, then Alfa Romeo, dominated. Cleland had to settle for a solitary win on home turf at Knockhill in 1993, making up for his disqualification the previous year, and a double win at Donington in 1994 and finished 4th overall in both seasons. 1995 would be Cleland's most successful season however as he won the opening round at Donington and came 2nd in Race 2 to lead the Championship after one meeting. Brake problems put him in the Paddock Hill gravel trap in both races at the next meeting at Brands Hatch, after which Cleland relied on consistency, although he had a run of 4 straight wins mid season to put himself back at the top of the table. He was never headed thereafter and after a below-par performance at Knockhill, he was off the podium only once in the remaining races, including a 6th win of the season at Brands Hatch. He won the Championship at Oulton Park with one meeting still to go. Vauxhall switched to the Vectra for 1996 but the car proved problematic and less competitive and Cleland dropped to 8th overall with his only podiums coming at Snetterton where team-mate James Thompson scored the car's first win. 1997 was even worse with Cleland finishing no higher than 5th at Oulton Park and failing to score in the last 7 races and he dropped to 12th overall. 1998 was an improvement to the extent that Cleland scored 2 wins and a 3rd at Donington. A big crash at Snetterton forced him to miss the 2nd Thruxton meeting and he failed to score 5 times in the last 4 meetings so he only improved to 8th overall. 1999 got off to a promising start for Cleland, scoring an 8th and a 4th in the season-opener at Donington but thereafter, he finished no higher than 6th and was outpaced by new team-mate Yvan Muller. He decided mid-season to retire and bowed out with a 5th and a 10th at Silverstone to rank 13th overall. Category:BTCC Drivers Category:1980's Drivers Category:1990's Drivers Category:Vauxhall Drivers Category:BTCC Champions Category:Race Winners